Resisting: easier with character or non-characters?

Having a character really helps, because it prevents me from MAKING impulse buys!!

 

Oh, man, if I have a character in mind, it makes it a lot harder.

... Of course, my problem is because I'm a writer, I'm constantly inventing characters (not to mention appropriating favourite characters as a fandom slut...), so it's hard to find a sculpt I love that doesn't fit a character I have/love enough to want to do a fan-doll of.

It's hard to keep them in order, because whatever I'm working on/obsessed with tends to inform my purchasing decisions. How cute a sculpt is might sway me, but not as much as who the character is.

=^__^=
Anneko

 

It is much easier to say no to non-characters if you ask me. If you have a character and find a doll that looks perfect for said character, it's impossible to say no!!

 

It's a little bit of both with me.

There'd be times when a character jumps straight out at me when I look at a doll; times when it takes months before a character emerges when I look at a doll that I didn't really pay attention to before; times when even though I really like the doll and it calls to me, I just cannot find a character for it (which really makes it easy for me not to buy the doll even though it's urging me to get it, like recently with the Idealian Hyperon); and times when I just buy a doll on impulse and figure out who they are later.

On the rare chance that I do create a character first before finding a doll for it, I don't really have any specific criteria for it, like body type or a particular feature. I feel that this makes it easier for me to be open to variety and what I can afford.

There's also the point that, even though I've found a doll and created a character for it, in the end I'd end up resisting and not buy that doll at all.

What it boils down, at least with me, is whim. And current financial status.

 

I have both characters becoming dolls and dolls having become characters, so I guess I can justify buying the doll anyway ^_^;
But it's easier to say "no" when I just see a pretty sculpt, but no story behind it - meaning that I can't see what kind of existing characters it could shell, nor what character it could become.

 

Mine is different though, when I think of a character in makes me want to flesh it out
Me having a character in mind, gives me more reasons to buy a doll... :3

 

It's easier for me to have characters. There are way too many dolls I'd like to buy. So limiting only to dolls that perfectly suit a character helps to keep me patient and waiting for that one single mold. That said, I also don't try to buy dolls for ALL of my characters, which would probably make having characters worse!

 

I'd say it's easier without characters. In reality, I would absolutely love dolls of all my original characters, but I have over 75 of them and I can't even imagine owning that many dolls. So, I have two separate categories: my story/roleplay characters and my dolly characters.

 

I find it easy to not buy certain dolls, as the criteria I have for my characters is VERY specific haha
However, when I am just browsing through dolls, and I don't have a character in mind, I find myself LOOKING for a character to create, so I can buy the doll, but I have to stop myself because if I buy this non-character, I can't buy my actual characters

Tricky business!

 

I think if its just a doll I like I can resist, but if it fits one of my characters, I have to start putting aside money for buying the doll. I think it's easier to not buy a doll if its just one you like, because its less personal. Unlike a character which is a piece of your imagination.

 

When I take the character approach the two most important ones have not found a mold simply because I'm insanely fussy when it comes to shelling them. No doll comes close enough. When I realized this and how beautiful dolls bought to represent them just ended up being this not-them creature, I put them in a category of their own meaning that if I ever find that mold it's great, and I will occasionally try, but I'm not going to focus on them because the risk of failure is just too big.
I found I have more success with the method of loving a mold, noticing that an idea is forming in my head, stalk the mold online for months and when a character develops, buying the doll.
Mold and character need to sort of intertwine in my head before I can successfully own the doll.

The real limit for me in this hobby is that I love very realistic dolls, to an extend that I have yet to find one that fully complies with my idea of 'realism'. At first this was rather limiting since only 4 or 6 made it to my wishlist the first 1,5 years. But now I'm happy I started out like that since my taste gets broader and I find myself loving and saving for some truly unrealistic (IMO!) dolls, like Minifee and Batchix Machina. The starting point keeps the list in check for now, though if my taste keeps changing I might end up with a 30+ wishlist anyway. That's ok though, I am slowly and quite happily succumbing to the financial disaster that is this hobby .

 

Having a preset character pretty much ensures I -won't- get a doll. I have a specific idea in my head and the doll would need to match it completely. The dolls I have and buy spark my curiosity and creativity because they don't have a predetermined role hanging over them. I feel more free to experiment and compromise. There's a flexibility to their creation that is more "personal" to me.

 

For me, the dolls who don't fit any of my characters are more difficult to resist. It's easier to make a character but more difficult to find a doll for a character.